95% of the time I am navigating to a file, I could put the hard drive in my dock but it is not as good as column view, basically I want the dock to spawn column view and when I get my file, it will shrink back down into the dock. So this idea is a navigational idea only, and the user would use the traditional separate window to change stuff around. Ok, perhaps it is a bad idea to have the finder menu do this...um...but it wouldnt be a bad idea for a small dock app to spawn the window like that!

my finder button does pop up and show a column view--check all your view options and finder prefs, as obviously you can do this. also, if you need the finder window a lot, try using apple-n to open it (when finder is selected as the app of course). all i have to do is click my desktop, hit apple-n, and i'm set.

I think he's saying that he wants the finder icon's dock menu to have a mini-finder window in it. So if you click and hold (or right click) the finder icon, you could quickly navigate to a file.

I don't like this idea. With expose, having many windows open is no longer a problem. Just keep an extra finder window open and expose to it when you need to grab a file. Then again, it's not really that difficult to just open a new finder window when you need it. Dock menus are supposed to contain menu items, not UI controls. Plus, I don't think this would even be possible without a rewrite of the carbon equivalent of NSMenuItem.

I'm sorry that you are unable to express yourself, kim kap sol. I admit it is somewhat of an afterthought idea, and in conclusion a bad idea. I find it amusing you cant articulate yourself on something so easily counter-argued; that you must mask your lack of argument with a derogatory image. I'm in awe of your witty little image, post some more.

In response to the more literate AI members, I do now see some inherent problem with this design. The simplest solution would be a hack that allows the hard drive to be shoved into the Apple menu, there is probably a hack already for this. It just drives me nuts that I have to open a window, navigate through it and open something and then close it. I know I can put my hard drive in the dock, but since it only fits on the right, it feels awkward to navigate right to left.

ah, when it comes to popup folders for years - in these classic days - i refused to use them. because i simply misunderstood how they work effectively. later on, i became a good part of the widespread popup folder prayers. because popup folders were simply GENIAL. actually, the threadstarters original idea implies a bit popup folder. i'd say "mini-exposé" or "dock-exposé". i think, the idea is not that bad, as many of you consider it. at first glance, hm?